In 1976, when Jon Jarvis was just out of college, he took a temporary job with the National Park Service handing out maps about America’s bicentennial celebration to tourists on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

In the 33 years since, he’s been a park ranger and superintendent across the West. He’s led hikes, held campfire talks, battled forest fires, made arrests, even rappelled down cliffs.

And now Jarvis, 56, a Bay Area resident, is heading back to Washington, for his dream job — as President Barack Obama’s new national parks director.

Confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Sept. 24, the Pinole resident has worked since 2002 at the National Park Service’s regional headquarters in Oakland, supervising all 54 national park units in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Hawaii.

A biologist by training, Tuesday he said in an interview he plans to increase scientific research in national parks, extend their educational role to put more rangers in school classrooms and broaden the parks’ appeal to America’s growing ethnic populations.

Like many longtime national park staff members, Jarvis was buoyed following last week’s PBS broadcast of filmmaker Ken Burns’ six-part, 12-hour series: “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Many parks advocates hope the series will inspire a renewed interest in parks and lead to public demand for funding increases and expansion of the system.

“National parks show us, as Wallace Stegner said, at our best rather than our worst,” Jarvis said. “At times like this, when the country is faced with a rancorous public debate and a tough economy, people turn to parks. They come to them for quiet and contemplation and family gatherings. I think we are in for a great renaissance.”

The challenges are daunting, however.

From Yosemite to the Statue of Liberty to the Everglades, America’s 391 national park units are beloved by the American public, yet face myriad problems and controversies.

After promising to eliminate a massive backlog of maintenance problems — from leaking museums to cracked roads and overgrown trails — the Bush administration left office with an $8 billion maintenance backlog in the national park system.

The park service’s mission, dating back to its origin in 1916, is to preserve America’s most spectacular natural heritage and to provide for public recreation. That goal continues to spark deeply felt conflicts. How many snowmobiles should be allowed in Yellowstone? How many helicopters over the Grand Canyon?

Jarvis will supervise 22,000 employees and a budget of $2.5 billion. As America’s 18th national parks director, he is the face of the agency visited each year by 275 million people.

Environmentalists praised the selection of Jarvis, calling him a strong advocate for conservation and science in parks.

“We’re elated that such a committed, knowledgeable individual has been chosen,” said Ron Sundergill, Pacific region director of the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group based in San Francisco. “The background he has is perfect for the job.”

A native of Virginia, Jarvis grew up hunting, fishing and hiking with his father and brother in the Shenandoah Valley. He earned a degree in biology from the College of William & Mary in 1975, then drove across the country and camped in Yellowstone, Glacier and Olympic national parks.

After the short stint working on the National Mall, he became a ranger at various parks, including Oregon’s Crater Lake. He has also been a resources supervisor at North Cascades. In the 1990s, he served as superintendent of Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho, then Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska and Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state.

Jarvis said Tuesday he would like to see the creation of at least two new park units. One would commemorate farm labor leader Cesar Chavez. Another, at Port Chicago near Martinez, would mark a 1944 Naval explosion that killed 320 people and led to racially charged mutiny trials for 50 sailors who refused to work in the dangerous conditions.

He said the issue of snowmobiles in Yellowstone — where there is a daily limit of 318 after several lawsuits over noise and smog — is “far from settled.” And he said he’d like to see Yosemite Valley campsites destroyed in a 1997 flood rebuilt out of the valley, on Tioga Road and other locations, rather than in the valley along the sensitive Merced River.

“Unfortunately, the public’s perception is that Yosemite is just the valley,” he said. “There are plenty of opportunities to end up with a no-net-loss of campgrounds.”

Jarvis is one of several Northern California residents to take top jobs in the Obama administration this year, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, CIA Director Leon Panetta and U. S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt.

Paul Rogers has covered a wide range of issues for The Mercury News since 1989, including water, oceans, energy, logging, parks, endangered species, toxics and climate change. He also works as managing editor of the Science team at KQED, the PBS and NPR station in San Francisco, and has taught science writing at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.